More than 1,000 final year students and academics are heading to New York as De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) steps up its #LoveInternational campaign in the United States.
DMU final year students on their mass trip to New York in January 2018
The students will be arriving in the Big Apple on Thursday 3 January to take part in once-in-a-lifetime educational trips bringing classroom study to vivid life, as well as immersing themselves in the diverse cultures making ‘the city that never sleeps’ so unique.
While in the city, DMU will also hold another major event at the headquarters of the United Nations, an organisation it works closely with supporting refugees and promoting global sustainability.
This time, students will fill the legendary debating chambers of the building to share ideas about furthering the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which address global challenges such as hunger, health, education, climate change and social justice, aiming to ensure all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030.
Alongside this, large numbers of students will be taking part in volunteering schemes across New York with the university’s community campaign #DMUlocal, visiting charities and working in a soup kitchen off Broadway. There are a total of 29 subject visits which have been organised.
The entire visit embodies DMU’s #LoveInternational campaign, which promotes the benefits of international travel and study.
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The initiative was launched following the EU Referendum vote two years ago, to celebrate the contribution of international students and staff working and studying at DMU, while opposing discrimination and prejudice, and reasserting that DMU is welcoming to, and supportive of, international students and staff.
The campaign has been taken across Europe to countries such as Poland, Cyprus, Germany and Sweden and it was short-listed in 2018 for The Guardian University Awards as campaign of the year.
Students from across all four of DMU’s faculties are making the trip to the Big Apple to take part in academic trips which include a tour of Ground Zero with a survivor of 9/11, meeting New York’s Chief Medical Officer to discuss healthcare and criminology, a tour of Wall Street, visits to some of the world’s greatest museums and art galleries, discussions on urban music and a visit to the Supreme Court.
Zara Sattar, a third year Education Studies student, said: “We are going to be able to network with people from around the world and take in cultural trips. The opportunities are amazing.”
Jamie Wilson, Arts and Festivals Management, added: “We will be taking part in workshops in Broadway among other things. It is amazing to be offered opportunities that we would never experience if we went to New York off our own backs.”
Matthew Swallow, Product Design, said: “This is my first time travelling outside of Europe. I am really buzzing about it. Getting to see and understand how life is different in New York will be fantastic.”
As previously revealed, DMU has been chosen by the United Nations Academic Impact group as a ‘designated hub’ for SDG number 16 – the first university to be chosen as such.
SDG 16 promotes peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, providing access to justice for all and building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.
Posted on Wednesday 2 January 2019